


Don’t Steal from Dragons

by Light7



Category: Castlevania (Cartoon), 悪魔城ドラキュラ | Castlevania Series
Genre: Bickering, Family, Family Fluff, bed time story, fairytale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:53:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25770919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Light7/pseuds/Light7
Summary: Dracula tells a bed time story.
Kudos: 10





	Don’t Steal from Dragons

“Once upon a time in a faraway and magical land,”

“Seriously” Lisa interrupted her husband, who was sitting on their son’s bed.

“What?” he glanced at his wife.

“You know bedtime stories,” she smiled and came fully into the bedroom. Kneeling on the floor beside their son’s bed, she rested her arms on her husband’s lap and grinned up at him. Dracula was silent for a moment, not meeting his wife’s gaze.

“He was going to make one up for me,” Adrian said from beneath a multitude of blankets. He’d been running a fever for a few days now and had been confined to bed. Apparently being unwell was boring, and he was demanding entertainment in varying forms. Lisa laughed.

“Why pray tell is this amusing?” her husband huffed. She shrugged her shoulders and coughed until her laughter was gone.

“Oh, it’s not,” she lied. “I’m sure you’re a marvellous storyteller.”

“Bedtime stories are simple, they are simple morality tales intended to teach a lesson.” Adrian used the opportunity to clamber out of bed and into his mother’s lap. She tutted at him and lifting him stood, settling them both onto his bed she turned her gaze back to her husband.

“Then, by all means, astound us both,” she gently petted her son’s head. Her husband drew himself up at her challenge and took a deep breath. Lisa fought not to smile.

“Once upon a time, there was a small kingdom. This kingdom had no grand history, no tales of forgotten or lost princesses, it was not a place where epic battles were fought.”

“Boring kingdom,” Lisa muttered.

“Save all notes for the end,” Dracula said through his teeth.

“You’re going to regret that,” Adrian giggled.

“I’m sure I will,” his father sighed. “This boring Kingdom was ruled over by a king and queen. The king was not handsome and not known for his feats of bravery.” He paused to see if his wife would interrupt. She did not, so he continued. “He was a practical man, well suited to governance, and his people benefited from his prudent decisions and suffered only mildly from most of his mistakes.”

“See, that is a magical king then,” Lisa interrupted. “I always thought kings were selfish, arrogant…” she stopped when she noticed her husband tapping his foot. “Sorry, please continue.”

“The queen was not beautiful; she was silent and did not smile.”

“Realistic.”

“Mother shh!” Adrian poked his mother gently.

“Ha!” Dracula grinned. “I win.”

“For now,” Lisa continued to smile. Adrian coughed; it was only partly real.

“On the day of their wedding,” Dracula continued. “The king had decreed that there was to be no magic in his kingdom. He said that magic brought nothing but ruin. Without magic, the kingdom would be safe and prosperous, but only if the people tore out any magic in their hearts.”

“I don’t like this king,” Adrian said.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to,” Lisa whispered.

“The kingdom was prosperous. It traded well with its neighbouring kingdoms, though its items were commonplace and about as magical as a wet lump of clay. The royal couple had no children despite being married for many years and had refused all aid.”

“All aid?” Lisa raised an eyebrow. “Prey tell what kind of aid are we talking about here? Remember your son is present.” Dracula stopped and blinked pointedly at his wife.

“It was a frightfully dull kingdom in an otherwise magical world. If this kingdom was a colour, it would be beige.”

“Boring!” Lisa crowed.

“Until the day the kingdom turned red.”

“Dramatic,” Lisa leaned forward.

“It was a muggy summer afternoon when the first person died,” Dracula said. “They were found, only moments after their death, torn asunder in one of the fields surrounding the royal castle. They ruled their death a farming accident.”

“Please remember the age of your audience,” Lisa muttered.

“The following day three people were found dead in the field, each one torn asunder. The day after that, they found eight people. The day after that fifteen people were found and by the end of the week, the kingdom had lost over a hundred men in the fields around the castle.”

“Why?” Adrian said.

“Wait and see,” Dracula breathed. “The king was called upon to act, but he was at a loss. This was not a disease, there was no evidence of an attack beyond the mutilated bodies, no one ever saw anything.”

“Something’s invisible?” Adrian asked Dracula held a finger to his lips. 

“To give his people's comfort, the King set a limit on how many men could be in the royal fields and placed a guard around those men. The people were comforted, and the men returned to the field.” Dracula leaned back, “the following day the field burned.”

“Someone started a fire!” Adrian gasped. Dracula nodded.

“No one saw what started the fire. It was a warm season, but it was damp, the crop was not dry, and the field well defended.” Dracula held up his hands in an exaggerated shrug.  
“Yet by the afternoon the field was ash and the men working and the guard defending had all fallen to the flames.”

“Oh dear,” Lisa smiled.

“The king made a public appeal, the queen by his side. He called for the men of his kingdom to band together, to watch all around them, for this was the work of magic. If the people stood strong together and rooted out the evil among them, then the kingdom would be safe once again.”

“Typical King,” Lisa muttered. “Doesn’t know what the problem is, so turns to distraction.”

“The following week men accused each other of magical deeds, and they imprisoned many, but the fields around the castle continued to burn.”

“I’m amazed the Kings plan did not work,” Lisa said.

“If you please,” Dracula muttered. “The people tore themselves apart, mistrust grew and spread faster than the flames and, on the day that the last field burned, the King burned his first witch.”

“Oh, no!” Adrian said.

“With the royal land now ash, the fire and death spread into the kingdom, churches, businesses and people's homes all burned, bodies were found in the streets torn asunder. But they never found the culprit, despite the king burning accused witches more and more with each passing day.”

“He killed his own people?” Adrian said Dracula nodded. Lisa held her son tighter.

“On the first day of the third month, the Queen vanished,” Dracula said, lifting his arms dramatically. “The royal advisor spoke publicly against the queen, he recalled that no one knew where the queen had come from, her origin was not recorded in any of the kingdom’s histories. It was as if she had appeared one day at the behest of the king. Now she had disappeared in much the same manner.”

“That’s suspicious,” Lisa muttered.

“After a year it had raised the kingdom to the ground, only the royal castle remained standing, untouched,” Dracula said. 

“Lucky castle,” Lisa mumbled.

“So, all the people were gone?” Adrian whispered.

“With his kingdom destroyed and only a handful of his people remaining, the King made one last decree.” Dracula took a deep breath. “He stood alone on a balcony and apologised, not to his people but his missing queen. He spoke of how he had taken her most precious treasure, and now his kingdom had been taken in recompense.”

“Kings take, that’s pretty much in the job title,” Lisa muttered.

“Telling stories is difficult with constant interruptions,” Dracula muttered. Lisa leaned forward and patted his hand.

“You’re doing fine, dear,” Dracula muttered something under his breath before continuing.

“In his arms he held a chest, at the end of his speech he opened the chest and reached in, taking a handful of its contents he threw it out from the balcony.”

“Treasure!” Adrian hissed.

“Dragon scales tumbled down onto the townsfolk below, glittering green and purple in the afternoon light.”

“Dragon scales?” Adrian said Dracula nodded.

“With the chest emptied, the crowd watched confused and shocked as he tumbled willingly from the balcony.”

“Again, remember the age of your audience,” Lisa muttered.

“With their king dead, the townsfolk gathered up the dragon scales and took them outside the castle, past the border of the kingdom to a river,” Dracula nodded to his wife. “In this river lived an ancient dragon.”

“Yay, dragon!” Adrian smiled.

“The townsfolk called to the ancient beast for three days, and by the sunset of the third day the dragon emerged, towering over the townsfolk, his white foam scales glinting in the sunlight.”

“Pretty,” Adrian said. His mother held him tight.

“The townsfolk offered the dragon scales to him and begged for their homes to be restored,” Dracula said. “But the great river dragon explained that he could not accept the scales nor restore their homes, for the scales belonged to his sister, a dragon of the meadows. A capricious creature, fond of taking her scales off and taking the form of a human  
woman.”

“A lady dragon,” Lisa smiled.

“But dragons should not remove their scales for without them they cannot return to their true form, and should the scales be discarded or stolen then the spirit of the dragon in the scales will take a form all its own and rampage until the two halves are reunited.”

“So, the scales destroyed the kingdom,” Adrian said as if he had figured out the greatest mystery. “Oh! I bet it was the queen who was the dragon!”

“It was,” Dracula nodded. “The evil boring king saw how wonderous she was and stole her scales so she would marry him. Then stopped all magic in the kingdom so no one would save her.” 

“That’s so mean!” Adrian said.

“Nasty King,” Lisa curled around her son.

“The river dragon told the townsfolk that the only way for them to end the plight of their kingdom and save themselves was to return the remaining scales to his sister. The dragon of the meadows, the prisoner queen of their kingdom. But the queen had vanished and no matter how hard they searched they could not find her.”

“So, everyone died?” Lisa asked.

“Almost everyone, yes. But those who survived learned an important lesson.” Dracula nodded, leaning forward to brush a cool hand against his son’s forehead.

“What lesson?” Lisa said.

“Don’t take stuff from dragons,” Adrian mumbled.

“Damn right,” Dracula grinned.

“But that’s rubbish!” Lisa snapped. “The poor dragon didn’t get her scales back.”

“Who says she didn’t?” Dracula continued to smile.

“You did when you ended the story,” Lisa said.

“All I said was that the people did not find her,” Dracula looked smug.

“So, there’s more!” Adrian said.

“Maybe,” Dracula said. “But that will have to wait for tomorrow night.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, please review, I’d love to hear what you think of the chapter.  
> For information on published works and upcoming projects, release dates, as well as weekly blogs, check out [my website](https://katiemarie21.wordpress.com)


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